


Returning Fondly Home

by Mara



Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Multi, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 11:49:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19333939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mara/pseuds/Mara
Summary: Poppy is super exasperated with Emu and Parad is repressing his fears. Just another day at home.





	Returning Fondly Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [victoireweasleys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoireweasleys/gifts).



> I didn't *quite* hit any of your prompts? But I hope you enjoy anyway :)

Poppy knows that everyone thinks she's a little...dim. Even Parad and Emu, who should know better, sometimes forget that Poppy and Asuna are the same person and Poppy isn't a mental lightweight just because she wears bright colors and sounds perky.

What bothered her was when the others assumed she was downright stupid. Or unobservant. Or clueless.

Like the time Taiga thought he was being super sneaky in his attempt to make a surprise party for Nico. Or the time Hiiro thought she wouldn't notice the giant hickey on his collarbone and the way Kiriya was smirking at him.

But this was much more important, Poppy thought, her whole body drooping against the wall of Emu's small apartment. If Emu said he was "fine" one more time, she was going to pipapoPOP!

"I'm fine," Emu said to Parad, with the worst fake smile she'd ever seen.

Poppy let out a shriek, causing Parad and Emu to whirl around from the living room window, searching her vicinity for whatever was attacking them. After a moment, it became clear the three of them were alone in the apartment and they stared at her.

Straightening, Poppy put her hands on her hips, glaring at Emu. "Stop it!"

He blinked. "Stop what?"

"Stop..." She waved her hands. "Stop lying. Stop pretending. You're not fine! Do I need to dress as Asuna before you'll talk to me?"

"What? No! Of course not." Emu shook his head sharply.

Poppy blinked back tears as she slumped back against the wall, poking at a loose paint chip to avoid looking at Emu and Parad. "Then why are you pretending to be okay?"

"That's not—" Emu broke off at a strange sound.

Parad had taken a step away from Emu, arms wrapped around his stomach, eyes darting between them.

"Parad?" Poppy said softly. "What's wrong?" She thought about walking closer, but didn't want to startle him.

He stared at her, unblinking, voice flat. "Are you going to leave?"

"What?" Poppy put her hands to her face for a second, taking a deep breath. "No. That's not going to happen."

Parad didn't move, except for his eyes, which continued to shift between them.

Emu stepped closer and gently wrapped an arm around Parad. "I promise. Poppy's not leaving. Neither am I."

"Then why are you yelling? On TV, people yell and then they leave."

Emu sighed, resting his forehead against Parad's shoulder. "We need to talk about fiction versus reality again."

"People can be angry without leaving," Poppy said, stepping forward to wrap around Parad's other side, resting her arms over Emu's.

"Oh." He thought about that, standing completely still in the way that Bugsters less accustomed to playing human often could. After a moment, he relaxed and hugged them back.

Leaning her face against his chest, Poppy took a moment to breathe in and out. (She didn't _need_ to breathe, technically, but Kiriya had shown her how helpful it was, especially at times like this.)

Emu drew back slightly and met her eyes, looking determined in that adorable way he had. "Sounds like we have a whole lot to talk about." Taking their hands, he tugged them over to the couch, which thankfully they'd replaced a few weeks ago with one big enough for all three of them.

It didn't take them long to settle in their favorite position, with Parad leaning against the couch arm, both of them tucked between his long legs and cuddled. Poppy pushed Emu to be in the middle and she leaned against him, closing her eyes and letting her two favorite people soothe her for a moment.

"You're still sad," Poppy said quietly when she felt the other two start to relax.

"I…" Emu stopped. "Not exactly?"

Tilting her head to the side, she looked at him. He looked…tired. But she knew he was sleeping because she was there at night. "You're not sad," she said.

"No. I'm proud of what we accomplished. We saved so many more people than I believed we could." He twisted his head to look at both of them. "And I'm very happy to be here with both of you. Believe me."

"We do," Parad said. "But what's wrong?"

Emu looked away, then took a deep breath and faced Poppy. "What have you read about post-traumatic stress disorder?"

For a moment, Poppy's mental files and the ones she filed under Asuna collided in a giant musical mess in her mind. "Oh," she said, in order to say something.

Parad was tensing up again. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"No," Emu said. "It's not something physical. Well, not exactly." He sighed. "Everything that happened…the constant stress and worry and barrage of crises and fear. It's like it changed something in my brain."

Poppy twisted in his lap so that she was cuddled up under his chin. "What symptoms are you having?" she asked quietly.

Emu didn't answer for a long moment. "Flashbacks. Some nightmares. Hypervigilance. Occasional intrusive thoughts." His voice was clipped, an attempt to sound like he was making an objective assessment of a patient rather than describing himself.

"You should have said something," Poppy said into his chest, feeling a few tears start to fall. She squinched her eyes closed to hold them back, not wanting to make Emu feel worse. But the thought of him hurting and keeping it to himself made her heart feel like it wanted to explode.

"There wasn't anything you could do."

Poppy could feel Parad tense up at that. "You're still supposed to tell us," he said. "I want to know everything about you."

"And you're wrong, Emu." Poppy squeezed him. "We could take better care of you."

"Not possible. You already take the best care of me." Emu's smile was audible.

"You could talk to us about it. I _am_ a nurse, as you recall." Poppy couldn't help a certain tartness to her voice.

A longer pause and Emu's chin dropped to the top of her head, voice muffled by her hair. "I'm sorry. You're right, I should have talked to you."

"You don't think I could help—"

"No, that's not it! I was thinking of you as one of the two people I love, not as your job."

Poppy sighed, nestling further against him. "I guess I'll forgive you then."

"And I guess we…need to talk about," Emu said.

"Not right now," Poppy said into his chest. "Right now I'm comfortable."

Emu laughed and held her closer. "Me too."

\--end--


End file.
